Make TV Watching Productive
Here’s a sad, but also well known truth: Americans watch a lot of TV. Here are some interesting statistics from TVTurnoff.org:
- The average American home has the TV on for 8 hours a day
- The average American watches 4 hours and 35 minutes of television each day
- The average American household is 2.55 people, but the average home also has 2.73 televisions
These statistics tell us that as a people we are spending a ton of time in front of the TV. We aren’t suggesting that you all turn off your TV for good (although that might not be a bad thing), but rather suggesting that you at least make some good use of this time. Either during the show you’re watching or at least during the boring commercials, get down and do some pushups. During a standard commercial break you could probably get in at least 20-40 pushups depending on your level. Then maybe during another break do some crunches or other body weight exercise. The idea here is that if you’re going to sit around a watch TV, at least do something productive and helpful for your fitness/weight loss goals.
Here is a short list of exercises that you can easily do at home that require little or no equipment that you could do while watching TV:
- Pushups
- Wall Squats
- One-Leg Squats
- Quick Jog Around the House
- Chair Dips
- Angled Calf Raises
- Anything with Bands or Free Weights you have at home
Get creative! You could even come up with little mini workouts you can do, or even have a competition between you and other people watching the show. See who can do the most pushups before the show comes back on. That way not only are you getting in some good exercise, but you’re also have a good time with those around you and motivating each other to achieve your best.
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Yes. Great Article! I always am doing DIPS off the side of the couch or a chair, and doing pushups and situps in front of the television. I also run in place for the full amount of time of the commercials, or non-stop shadow boxing to keep my stamina up. Great article. Personally, I try not to have the TV on much, but when I do, I am never just sitting there.
Extreme TKO,
Thanks for the reply! Running in place and shadowboxing is another great idea, thanks for sharing that. Sounds like you’ve found some really good and effective ways to keep your heart pumping and not wasting any time.
I walk around the room, or do aerobics-like back-and-forth walking. Not that I watch much TV, but I use it to get some cardio into my day. BTW, I love your posts. I have an article about weight loss basics up at my personal development blog. Probably too basic for you, but if you’re interested in personal development stuff, I’d love for you to stop by
I’ve never think watching TV is productive, but now I know
I would agree with you. Watching TV really isn’t that productive for anything, but there are ways to make it more productive! If you’re going to do it, you might as well do it in a way that can actually be beneficial.
Personal Development, thanks for the link to your site with some other good basic tips. We have to get the basics under control before anything else, so its good to see a list like this from time to time. Thanks again for sharing!